


shining just for you

by inlovewithimpossibility



Series: olicity x folklore [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Inspired by Taylor Swift, Love Confessions, Miss Swift Owns Me, Song: mirrorball (Taylor Swift)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:54:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27744817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithimpossibility/pseuds/inlovewithimpossibility
Summary: “Good lord, you sound just like her,” Laurel scoffs, rolling her eyes and Felicity makes sure to dart back around the corner as she hears this, having borne witness to this argument enough times to know exactly who Laurel is talking about.Oliver, either in true ignorance or manufactured malice, does not have the same clarity in response to Laurel’s biting statement and he regards the brunette before him with a quizzical expression, “Like who?”“Oh, you know exactly who, exactly who it’s always been, the one person I could never live up to."//felicity has always assumed her love for childhood best friend, oliver, was an unrequited fantasy, but after his latest split with girlfriend, laurel, things come to a head//[part six in the folklore series]
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Series: olicity x folklore [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875232
Comments: 57
Kudos: 276





	shining just for you

Midday in the business district of Starling City comes with a hustle of activity. Executives and employees spill out of high rises to rush to cafes and coffee shops to make the most of the hour lunch breaks they’re given in between meetings and projects and audits by their bosses. 

Ever since Felicity started working at Queen Consolidated, midday has meant one thing. Collect the food she’s ordered from the front desk and then head back up to the executive floor to lunch with her best friend and CEO, Oliver Queen. For the past two years, the two of them have almost always spent their lunch break in his office, chatting and joking and most often, going through something that’s landed on Oliver’s desk which he doesn’t quite understand. 

For Felicity, being around to help Oliver has been a lifelong job. Ever since that first day in the kindergarten sandpit after Tommy teased Oliver for not knowing how to get his castle to stay standing, Felicity’s dedicated her life to staying by Oliver’s side. It’s a job she does happily, she adores Oliver, he’s her closest friend in the world, but she’d be lying if she didn’t admit there have been sacrifices she’s had to make along the way. College was the hardest, with the two of them on separate coasts, so when Oliver’s dad offered Felicity her dream job heading up a department, she jumped at the chance to head back to Starling and Oliver. Robert’s death six months ago shocked and rattled everything but Felicity knows that Oliver is taking to being CEO like a duck to water… with a little assistance from her of course. 

She’s just rounding the corner from the elevator terminal to head into Oliver’s office when she hears the sound of voices in the doorway and she freezes, staying out of sight so that she doesn’t distract Oliver through the glass walls of his office in case his meeting has overrun. 

“I just don’t understand why you can’t come to lunch with me,” The other person asks in a clearly irritated voice and Felicity frowns as she recognizes the voice to be Laurel, Oliver’s on-again, off-again girlfriend of the past ten years. The two ended for what felt like the millionth time in a very fiery argument two weeks ago that Oliver was very vehement would be the last. Felicity finds it entirely unsurprising to see Laurel here, however, because she has the hindsight of their many previous ‘breakups’. 

“Because Laurel, I already have lunch plans and frankly, I don’t want to,” Oliver counters in an almost clearly irritated tone and Felicity’s eyebrows rise in surprise at the intensity of said irritation. Hearing Laurel yell at Oliver is nothing surprising but Oliver rarely gives as good as he gets with Laurel but there’s a clear bite behind his voice here. 

“Ollie, come on. You and I both know that we’re going to make our way back to each other, so why don’t we end this whole facade and skip the part where we’re both miserable to get to the good stuff?” Laurel questions, her voice softening a little, and Felicity chances leaning around the corner to watch the way the brunette approaches her best friend, reaching out with perfectly manicured nails to grasp his forearms. Felicity frowns as Oliver steps back, not giving into Laurel’s advances. 

“The good stuff? Oh you mean the part where we drive each other up the wall until we’re so completely sick of each other that we fracture so badly, we break everything around us?” Oliver asks with an incredulous scoff and Felicity finds herself amazed at how much he is sticking to his guns here. She feels a little bad for her immediate dismissal of his assurances of this breakup being final as she watches the way he interacts with his ex, impressed with his integrity for the first time maybe ever. 

“Ollie, come on, you know we’re inevitable,” Laurel tries in the same old song and dance that  _ Felicity  _ has heard a hundred times, let alone Oliver himself. 

“No, Laurel, we were trapped in an endless cycle of self-sabotage and cruelty, a cycle I made very clear I was looking to break when I called things off this time,” Oliver comments in a surprisingly calm voice as he walks back around to stand behind his desk, putting both distance and the large wooden expanse between them in what is a clear message of intent. 

“Good lord, you sound just like  _ her,” _ Laurel scoffs, rolling her eyes and Felicity makes sure to dart back around the corner as she hears this, having borne witness to this argument enough times to know exactly who Laurel is talking about. 

Oliver, either in true ignorance or manufactured malice, does not have the same clarity in response to Laurel’s biting statement and he regards the brunette before him with a quizzical expression, “Like who?” 

“Oh, you know exactly who, exactly who it’s always been, the one person I could never live up to,” Laurel exclaims, growing irate as she speaks, her arms flying out and Felicity winces at the sound of true  _ hurt  _ in her voice. She knows that Laurel’s interpretation of events places Felicity as a villain and Laurel as a poor innocent victim and, whilst she doesn’t subscribe to that particular narrative, the idea that she may have caused someone she once considered a friend pain is hurtful to her. 

“ _ Felicity?  _ What has this got to do with Felicity?” Oliver asks incredulously in the same way that Felicity knows he has a million times before. This almost perennial cycle between him and Laurel is why Felicity knows that Oliver firmly calling things off is the right move but bearing witness to it is and always has been like watching a burning vehicle go up without doing anything to stop it. 

“She’s so clearly in love with you, it’s pathetic. She’s followed you around like a lost little puppy since you were kids and you’ve always been too nice to shake her off like you clearly want to. Instead, you let her pathetic little view of the world get in your head and then you start coming out with these ridiculous notions of cycles and self-sabotage that we both know you’re far too dumb to come up with on your own.”

Felicity feels red hot anger flow through her as she listens to Laurel’s tirade. It starts in the pit of her stomach and spreads rapidly through her veins until it’s burning at the very tips of her fingers. It is not Laurel’s interpretation of her own character that has her seething. Whilst the brunette’s view of her had hurt when they were seventeen and Felicity still foolishly assumed they had a friendship of sorts, she threw al notion of that out the window by the time high school graduation rolled around, and with it went any sadness or embarrassment in reaction to Laurel’s view of her. It’s not even Laurel’s view of her and Oliver’s friendship that has her angry. Laurel, for one, is right in her thought that Felicity is in love with Oliver and has been since they were children. She can’t blame her for properly interpreting the facts. What has her burning with a wave of anger so hot it almost scalds her from the inside out is Laurel’s impression of Oliver himself. It’s the thing that has annoyed her most about their relationship from the get-go. Laurel has always seen Oliver as a stupid boy that she can mold into who she wants him to be whilst seizing the opportunity association with him brings her. Laurel thinks Oliver is dumb whereas Felicity knows deep within her that Oliver is one of the most intelligent people she knows. He struggles to apply himself but his view of the world is so intuitive and nuanced that sometimes even Felicity, with her certified genius status, struggles to understand it. The fact that Laurel can’t see that and yet she’s been the one for so long who gets Oliver’s love and gentle heart makes Felicity seethe with rage for the brunette and her close-mindedness. 

“Laurel… get out,” Oliver sighs after a long pause, staring at Laurel with a tired expression that speaks wonders about how many times these two have been through this. Felicity hopes for Oliver’s sake that this really is the last. 

“Ollie…” 

“No. Get. Out. Now.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Laurel tries with a small smile but Oliver holds true, shaking his head. 

“Ridiculous? You want to talk about ridiculous? You come in here, completely uninvited, unwanted, to tell me that you’ve  _ decided _ it’s time we get back together when I made it very clear to you that last time was the very last time and that I have absolutely zero interest in rekindling anything with you. Then you go on to insult not only me, but the one person who has actually defended you through all of this and made me realize that I wasn’t only the victim in this cycle of ours, but also a perpetrator. Felicity is the one person who has helped me over every hurdle I’ve encountered and has never  _ once  _ made me feel less than or stupid for not understanding something. She’s the one who has always believed in me. So you want to talk about ridiculous, Laurel? Because ridiculous is the concept that I would ever want to pursue anything romantic with you after you just stood here and insulted the most important person in my life.” 

Felicity is frozen into place as she listens to Oliver’s rant. She’s totally taken aback by the ferocity in Oliver’s tone. He has always been her biggest supporter, advocate, and it’s certainly not the first time she’s heard him defend her to someone… but she’s never heard him do so with this much fervor behind it. Despite the situation, it fills her with a warm feeling she’s only ever experienced with Oliver, it’s the kind that spreads through her like a cup of hot coffee on a cold day, like coming home after a walk in a brisk wind, like the comfort of familiarity you only feel around those you love. 

“Ollie… I didn’t mean…” Laurel starts to try but Oliver just holds up a hand, shaking his head. 

“Just get out, Laurel. I hope someone makes you very happy when you find whoever will live up to your ridiculous list of expectations,” He sighs, his tone quiet and dismissive and Felicity is baffled. She’s never seen Oliver be so resigned to Laurel’s face before, he clearly is very serious about things being over between them. 

The change in Laurel is almost instantaneous. Her pleading apology turns to shock which turns to clear anger and she squares off her shoulders. 

“You’ll regret this.” 

“I doubt it,” Oliver counters immediately, gesturing to the door and Laurel jolts for a moment before she turns and heads for the door. “Oh and Laurel?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Just so you’re aware, I would consider myself the luckiest man alive if I thought Felicity had any inclination of romantic feelings towards me. She’s worth 50 of me, 50 of all of us.” 

Felicity freezes at Oliver’s words. She’s never allowed herself to entertain the thought of Oliver returning her feelings before. Truth be told, she’s always felt inferior to him in so many ways that the concept of him ever being in love with her the way she is with him has always felt like a childish fantasy she shouldn’t indulge herself in. She forces herself not to read too deeply into his words, being at a place now where she can deal with her unrequited love for him. She doesn’t want to go backward with that. 

“Well then I hope you make each other very happy,” Laurel bites in a tone that makes it very clear her sentiments are not at all well-wishing. She storms out of the office and Felicity just has time to jump back into the small alcove she’s stood in so that the brunette doesn’t notice her as she stalks to the elevators. 

Felicity waits there for a few seconds, her breathing heavy as adrenaline rushes through her, sparking from the worry of almost being caught. She plans in her head to wait a few more moments before heading into Oliver’s office and making it seem as if she’s just come from the elevators herself but that plan is squandered when Oliver’s voice rings out. 

“You can come out now,” He calls, his amusement clear and a stark contrast to the malice in his voice when he addressed Laurel. She stumbles out of her hiding place, bafflement at his awareness of her location taking over as she heads into the office with a deep frown on her face. 

“You knew I was here?” She questions him with a balking voice and Oliver chuckles, shaking his head as he shuts the door of his office behind her. A liberty, Felicity cannot help but note, he didn’t take when Laurel was here. 

“Felicity, you haven’t gotten any better at sneaking around since we were ten years old and we tried to sneak that puppy into the mansion,” Oliver comments with that same amused smirk he always uses when she does something he considers to be ‘totally Felicity’. 

“Hey! Mr. Snuffles barked!” She jumps to defend herself, the same old story Oliver just  _ loves  _ to bring up a sore spot for her. 

“Because you were dancing around in front of it!” He immediately counters as he always does, his smirk growing as he scoffs affectionately, his expression softening as he regards her for a long moment. 

It only takes another moment for that expression to grow a little more serious and he sighs, leaning against his desk with a frown. 

“Are you okay?” Felicity questions, placing the food on the small coffee table between the two sofas in the corner of his office and she smiles in gratitude when Oliver takes the invitation for what it is, wandering over to flop onto the couch with a sigh. 

“Hmm… Laurel is Laurel, y’know? Hopefully, she gets the message and that’s the last I have to deal with of her,” He sighs heavily and Felicity hums, handing him his carton of takeout and chopsticks before she grabs her to settle on the couch next to him. 

“She’s got some odd concepts about you and me,” She comments after a moment of silence, looking down at her food as she speaks it, her stomach twisting intensely with nerves. 

“Well yeah, you being in love with me is the last thing anyone could accuse you of,” Oliver counters with a small snort and Felicity frowns, confused as to how he could possibly think that. She’s thought for a long time that he  _ must  _ know, but has never addressed it for the fear of it being too awkward. 

“I don’t know about  _ that…  _ I meant the whole her not living up to me thing like she’s  _ Laurel,  _ gorgeous Laurel,” Felicity babbles, it all spilling out before she can really consider whether it’s a good idea to do so or not. She looks up at Oliver once she’s done and she feels the flush spread across her cheeks as he looks at her as if she’s grown two heads. 

“Felicity, you’re beautiful. And you’re worth so much more than just that. You’re smart and kind and funny and genuinely one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, inside and out. And that light inside of you, that’s what makes you so radiant, it just flows out of you when you’re around others,” He tells her after a beat of silence, staring at her with such an intensity in his eyes that it makes Felicity balk. He’s complimented her before, called her beautiful before even, but there’s something so intense about him right now that it’s so overwhelming for Felicity, she can’t linger too long or she knows that she’ll just drown. 

“What’s gotten into you today?” She questions as she looks away with a blush, chuckling a little as she swallows thickly, trying to ignore the tears that are pricking at her eyes. Oliver, however, doesn’t take the opportunity she gives him to step back and allow a lighter tone, keeping his gaze on her as he shrugs. 

“The truth. No, you’re not Laurel. You’re better, you’re Felicity Smoak,  _ the  _ most badass and gorgeous woman I know.” 

“You’re only saying that because I bring you food every day,” Felicity chuckles, trying once again to shift the topic but she frowns when Oliver refuses once more, a small, affectionate smile spreading across his face when he counters her simply with two small words. 

“Not true.” 

“Are you just saying that because you think Laurel got to me?” She then questions in a more serious tone, trying to determine exactly what his angle is here. Oliver sighs, shaking his head as he straightens his posture a little, placing his food back on the coffee table as he looks at her with a serious expression. 

“Felicity, I meant what I said at the end there. If you had even a glimpse of romantic feelings for me, I would consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. But I know that I’m not even half the man you deserve, I’ve known that since I was twelve years old.” 

For the third time today, Felicity finds herself completely baffled by the words coming out of her best friend’s mouth. She  _ never  _ knew he’s been feeling like this, that he has  _ ever  _ had feelings for her like that… like she has for him… 

And to think that he has apparently been so in the dark about her own feelings… it’s almost laughable. 

“Oliver… you must know, surely you know…” She starts in a gentle tone, looking at him a little reproachfully as she truly considers the idea that after all these years, he could have no idea how deeply she is in love with him. 

“Know what?” He asks and Felicity cannot help but chuckle. She’s been spelling things out for him since they were five years old, what’s one more thing? 

“That I’ve been in love with you since we were eleven,” She states simply and it takes her aback a little how easily it slips out. It’s the truth and it’s something she reconciled within herself a long time ago. She just honestly never thought she and Oliver would discuss it. 

“You have not!” Oliver gasps, shock clear on his face and Felicity has to chuckle at the fact that it’s the very same expression he got when they were seven and she told him that starfish, and indeed almost all invertebrates, don’t have anything resembling a brain. 

“Have too!” Felicity finds herself immediately countering, as if they are discussing whether she remembered to pick up milk at the store and not the very real fact that she is completely and utterly in love with her best friend of twenty years, “I just always thought you saw me as like a sister.” 

“Definitely not a sister,” Oliver answers with wide eyes as if the mere thought disgusts him and Felicity’s eyes blow wide at that. She was very aware of Oliver turning into a very attractive man as they passed through their teenage years and into their twenties but she has never even considered the concept of Oliver finding her sexually attractive. 

“ _ Really?”  _

“Do you remember when we were fifteen and we went to the lake house for a month during the summer?” He asks her with a small smile and Felicity frowns, racking her brain until her memory lands on the summer trip he’s referring to. 

“You ignored me that entire trip,” She recalls with a small frown, remembering how much she cried on the trip and how she’s seen it as a cornerstone in her own journey of realizing the unrequited nature of her love for Oliver for a long time. 

“Because I was so terrified that you would realize how much I liked you when you saw how I could barely contain myself when I saw you in a bathing suit,” He explains with a small smile, reaching out to grab her hand and Felicity thinks nothing of the casual affection as he interlocks their fingers, her mind reeling at what he’s just revealed. 

“I thought you were disgusted at the sight of me in a bikini, it’s why I’ve never gone swimming around you since!” 

Oliver’s eyes widen at her response before his brow furrows deeply and Felicity cannot help but note how adorable the confusion looks as it crosses his face. It’s like he’s deciphering the past twenty years all over again and Felicity sighs as she begins to do the same, all the moments she had been so sure were rejections flooding back to her, painted in a new light. 

“You… I… is this why you refused to go to prom too so I couldn’t ask you?” 

“You wanted to go to prom with me?” Felicity balks, her eyes widening and Oliver laughs incredulously, straightening up in his seat as he stares at her in disbelief. 

“I flat out asked you!” 

“I thought you were pitying me!” She clarifies and Oliver lets out a disbelieving chuckle, shaking his head. The hand that is not still clasping her own reaches up to rub over his face in an action Felicity knows is one of his tells for being nervous. He pauses for a moment, chuckles again, and then turns towards her, reaching for her other hand so that he’s facing her properly. He takes a deep breath and smiles at her, that same smile that has reassured her so many times in the past two decades. 

“Felicity… let me make something perfectly clear to you now, seeing as we’ve so clearly misunderstood each other in the past… I love you, truth be told I’ve been in love with you since before I even really knew what love was. All I know is that having you around makes my entire life that little bit brighter and I know that you will always be my lifeline, the one thing that can pull me out of the dark.” 

Felicity swallows thickly as she listens to Oliver speak, her heart hammering in her chest like the worst nerves of her life. 

“Do you remember when I told you I was moving to MIT? The way you wouldn’t talk to me for a week because you were so sure I was abandoning you and then you cling to me for months after that because you felt awful that you made me feel like I couldn’t chase my dreams?” 

“Very much not my finest hour,” Oliver winces and Felicity smiles, holding no resentment towards him for his actions from seven years ago. 

“I spent that whole week crying and feeling totally lost. I don’t know what my life looks like without you in it and I don’t  _ want  _ to know because you’re the best part of every single day. You make my life brighter just by existing and I have loved you I think ever since I told Tommy to shove it for making fun of you in that sandpit all those years ago,” Felicity chuckles, her eyes filling with tears as she speaks. She’s told Oliver how much he means to her before but it’s never held so much weight and she can tell that he understands the gravity of this moment too, his own expression vulnerable and open. 

“All the time we’ve wasted because we couldn’t just talk,” Oliver chuckles after a moment of smiles, his hands squeezing hers reassuring and Felicity shrugs in a slightly coy manner, leaning her chin into her shoulder. She notes and appreciates the way Oliver’s eyes darken ever so slightly and she smirks, looking at him through her lashes. 

“Good thing we’ve got a whole lifetime left to make up for it now,” She tells him with a grin and a smile spreads across Oliver’s face. 

“I like the way you think, Smoak,” He comments in a slightly coy tone of his own, and Felicity squeals as he suddenly releases her hands and wraps his arms around her waist, hauling her closer to him with surprising control and tenderness. He stops her just inches from his lap, a nervous air fluttering around them as their faces rest mere inches from each other and their eyes meet, a palpable tension hovering in the minute space between them. 

“Oliver?” Felicity asks in a breathless tone, her mind blank for the first time maybe ever as she stares up into Oliver’s eyes. 

“Hmm?” 

“Kiss me,” She tells him and her breath is taken away as Oliver barely waits for her to finish speaking before he dives forward and slides his lips against her own. She gasps, the shock of it taking over her for a moment before she sinks into it, her own hands moving from their frozen position to slip up his back and wrap around his waist. They move with practiced ease, both of them knowing the other so intuitively that despite the kissing being new, they can answer each other’s needs without speaking. 

Felicity sighs into the feeling of it, her mind reeling that this is really happening and she’s here, kissing her best friend of twenty years on his office couch. That same feeling from earlier slips through her body, warming her from the inside out, a more intense version of the feeling of home she has always experienced around Oliver sinking into her bones as he kisses her as if it’s the last thing he’ll ever get to do. Felicity cannot help but revel in the concept that he will be able to do this so many times, for the rest of their lives, if that’s what they want… she knows it’s certainly what she wants. 

“Hmm, I waited twenty years for that,” Oliver whispers after they pull apart, both of them breathless and staring at each other with amazed eyes. 

“Worth it?” Felicity can’t resist asking but Oliver calms her fears immediately with a small smirk. 

“Every single second,” He comments reverently before he dives right back in, tugging her onto his lap and kissing her senseless. Felicity notes that from now on, she’ll have to remember to close the blinds when she comes up to Oliver’s office for lunch. 


End file.
